Monday, September 13, 2010

Brunch Bets: Seersucker

Go ahead and add Seersucker to the city's gradually expanding list of southern-inspired restaurants. Located on Smith Street in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, Seersucker is the creation of Arkansas-native Robert Newton. Recently featured in Food and Wine, the restaurant has received mixed reviews. But in the wake of Brooklyn Star closing, which Eater reported may be more than just a temporary hiatus, MW and I trekked to Seersucker looking forward to their southern take on brunch. Sadly, our hopes were never realized as we were served a series of poorly executed dishes.

We arrived early in the afternoon, just managing to avoid the rain and grabbing the last available table. Shades of blue permeated throughout the minimalistic interior. Along the back wall were jars of pickled vegetables as well as small windows that peered into the bustling kitchen. Our waitress quickly arrived with our coffees and service was good throughout the meal.

Being a restaurant serving southern food, we couldn't help but order one of Seersucker's acclaimed Biscuits with Butter and Jam. Served warm and with a side of great Honey Butter and a bitter Italian Plum and Prune Preserves, this dish had all the makings of an epic biscuit. But looks were deceiving in this case, as the biscuit was far too delicate, literally crumbling in our hands as we frantically attempted to eat it. Consistency issues aside, the biscuit was bland, necessitating a liberal application of butter and preserves.

Unimpressed, we hoped for the restaurant to redeem itself with the rest of our food. MW selected Two Local Farm Eggs Poached, with Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, only to be underwhelmed by a plate of severely underseasoned food. The pieces of sausage in the gravy came chopped too fine for my liking and the eggs still tasted like vinegar, an unpleasant byproduct of ordering them poached, but the most alarming takeaway of the dish was its utter lack of salt and pepper.

My Two Local Farm Eggs Poached, with Country Ham, Grits and Red Eye Gravy was a mix of both positives and negatives. The grits were cooked very well, a good happy medium between being too soupy and too stiff and the country ham lent the dish the necessary salinity our previous offerings so badly needed. But the dish's negatives severely outweighed any of its positives, low-lighted by overcooked eggs. resulting in an unwanted solidified yolk and a flavorless red eye gravy, devoid of any coffee flavor.

While a single brunch is hardly indicative of a restaurant's merit, our experience at Seersucker was, dare I say, bad, especially compared to the city's other similarly themed and much better restaurants: Egg, The Redhead and the currently defunct Brooklyn Star.